Government legislation to increase the number of Ministers of State and super juniors has been condemned as a “jobs for the boys” Bill that would cost at least €500,000 a year for each new Minister, or €7.5 million overall in a five-year term.
The Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill was rushed through the Dáil in less than two hours and was passed by 92 votes to 72.
It increases the number of junior Ministers from 20 to an unprecedented 23 and super juniors, who attend Cabinet meetings, from three to four. It also provides an additional allowance for the fourth super junior Minister that is currently paid to the three already in place.
Three promoted TDs, Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley, Fine Gael’s Colm Brophy and Independent Marian Harkin, cannot take up their roles as Ministers of State until the legislation is signed in to law by the President.
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Labour finance spokesman Ged Nash described the legislation as a “jobs for the boys Bill” as he called the new Ministers of State “baby Ministers”.
He said figures compiled by his party suggest “each of these new posts will cost the State upwards of €500,000 annually”.
Mr Nash said “the starting cost to the public of this stroke by Government will be over €1.5 million a year. Adding in the new overnight allowance for Ministers of State, along with further super junior positions, that amounts to €7.5 million over the five-year prospective term of this Government.”
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He said the calculations did not include pension, office or establishment costs.
“In addition to the annual TD salary of €113,679, the new Ministers will receive a Minister of State allowance of €45,846, bringing starting pay to just under €160,000.
“Junior Ministers can hire two civilian drivers with annualised salaries of close to €45,000 and there are expenses associated with that; that is only fair. The Minister incurs mileage as well, which nobody disagrees with here.
“They also retain their two TD staff members, a parliamentary assistant and an administrative assistant. Officeholders, including each new Minister of State, receive a special secretarial allowance of up to €48,515, not from their own department but from the Houses of the Oireachtas” to hire an additional staff member or contract, for example, secretarial or PR services.
The Louth TD, who served as a super junior at one stage, said “there is a strong argument for doing away with that allowance in its entirety. There is no requirement, rationale or justification for it.”
Minister for Finance Jack Chambers, who introduced the legislation, said they needed the additional Ministers because of the “increased volume of Government priorities and business”.
Mr Chambers said “public policy has become more complex as our society has grown and developed” and the increase in Ministers would enable the Government to extend its ability to “tackle various policy issues in a cross-departmental and more focused way”.
But Sinn Féin public expenditure spokeswoman Mairéad Farrelly said all the Bill is about is “more deals, more Mercs and more perks”.
She said these “extra positions and pay are simply a function of coalition talks and jobs for the boys”.
She also criticised the decision to “railroad” the legislation through in one day.
“There are cases in front of the High Court in relation to this Bill but you are trying to get this through the Dáil before we have any kind of guidance in relation to that or let alone a decision,” she added.
